


Ruby Red Wrapper

by Gcgraywriter



Series: Paneville [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fear of hospitals, Meet the Family, St Mungo's Hospital
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:06:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23900530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gcgraywriter/pseuds/Gcgraywriter
Summary: Pansy wants to meet Neville's parents even though she hates hospitals.***No Smut***
Relationships: Neville Longbottom/Pansy Parkinson
Series: Paneville [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721938
Comments: 10
Kudos: 28





	Ruby Red Wrapper

**Author's Note:**

> Another one from my 30 day's prompt. 
> 
> I thought this was so sweet when I wrote it. Enjoy :)

Pansy felt the bile rise up her throat as she got a whiff of the hospital. It was the imperceptible smell that all hospitals have and that everyone recognises. A strange mixture of sickly sweet decay and death which cleaning potions try to mask. Pansy had never been good in hospitals, not since she was a child. The smell unnerved her, filling her with fear. Only the warm, strong hand around hers kept her from bolting.

“Are you alright?” Neville asked gently “We don’t have to do this.”

She nodded, not trusting her voice. She had to do this properly! She had to do this for Neville and Neville’s parents. She swallowed again and nodded as they began to walk again. She would do this! She wouldn’t forgive herself if she didn’t.

Her mind flashed to a younger version of herself, struck with Scrofungulus and hospital-bound. Her neck and throat had been so painfully swollen that sleeping without a sleeping draught was impossible. She had been surrounded by the smell and had never been able to get over the distaste. 

They found the stairwell and started to climb, as they passed the second floor, and then the third. She began to feel better as the smell seemed to diminish below them. It was only the nerves now that battered her insides. She took a deep breath as they came to the door to the fourth floor.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He asked again. Pansy looked into his eyes and saw the barely hidden hope and fear. She tried to smile her confident smile as she nodded. Neville’s lips quirked in confirmation before he pushed open the door.

They were in a long corridor with doors either side, and Pansy jumped when a face peered out of one of them. “It’s alright,” Neville said calmly as they continued towards the end. There before them was Ward 49, or as most people knew it, the Janus Thickey Ward. Neville took a deep breath before turning to her again, squeezing her hands nervously. “Sometimes they have good days and sometimes they have bad days,” Neville repeated for what felt like the twentieth time. She just nodded again as he muttered a password and pushed the door open. 

Whatever she had been expecting, this hadn’t been it. Again, her mind rushed back to the isolated room where she had been lonely and terrified. She swallowed as she looked at the wide-open ward. Beds along either side, some vacant and some occupied cluttered with personal items and knick-knacks. Pansy held Neville’s hand as they travelled towards the end beds. 

A man slept on the bed to her left, his portraits waving at her from the wall surrounding his headboard, she paused and pointed, mouth wide with surprise. 

“Is that?”

“Professor Lockhart, yeah” Neville offered a grim smile.

Pansy shuddered as they began to walk again. With every step, her feet seemed to get heavier, and her legs weaker.

Neville got there first and pulled the curtains around them as Pansy stepped in. The curtains darkened the small space making Pansy feel slightly more trapped. 

“Hey Mum, Dad,” Neville said, trying to catch the couple’s attention. Neville signalled for her to sit on the edge of the bed. Pansy did, thankful for the seat. 

A frail-looking woman sat in the armchair, her eyes darting backwards and forwards as if watching for the snitch at a quidditch match. Her dressing gown hung loosely around her frame as if it had been for someone broader. Her colourless hair wisped around her ears in untidy, natural curls. 

In the next bed lay a man, hair equally as colourless. His eyes, in contrast to his wife’s, stared sightlessly into the distance, his hands twiddling and twitching of their own accord. 

“Mum, Dad, this is Pansy Parkinson.” He said, sounding calm and soothing. “She wanted to meet you,” Pansy sat and tried to smile. Her smile faltered when she realised that they hadn’t reacted at all. It was as if Neville hadn’t spoken at all.

Neville sat opposite her on his father’s bed as he tried to talk to his parents. She turned her eyes and could see a deep pain almost smothered by years of conditioning. It hurt him to see his parents like this. She tried to imagine what her parents would be like if they were in their place and felt the tears well up in her eyes. 

“I’ve asked Pansy to marry me, Mum,” Neville said as he looked down at his hands. “She said yes”. His mother seemed to stop at this. She didn’t move, but her eyes stopped their frantic movements and landed on the bed next to Pansy. Pansy heard Neville’s breath hitch. “Mum?” He said as he moved to her bed, he reached out and took her hand which looked tiny and desiccated in his large, tanned hands. “She said yes, Mum. I’m getting married.” 

His mother stood up suddenly and shifted her weight between her feet as if trying to take a step and changing her mind again. The sudden activity made Pansy jump. She took a deep breath to steady herself. 

“Your son makes me very happy, Mrs Longbottom” Pansy tried, she got no reaction but received a grateful smile from Neville. 

Neville turned to see his father begin to move, but all he did was roll over on the bed, his back now turned to them. 

“Don’t take that personally,” Neville said quietly, “He’s not having a good day.” Pansy nodded to confirm she hadn’t. 

His mother had started to hum a tune, it was nothing that she recognised, Pansy wasn’t even sure it was a song, but it was tuneful none-the-less. Alice Longbottom abruptly turned to her dresser and picked up something before rocking again. 

“We were thinking of a winter wedding” Neville continued as he reached his hand out to look at Pansy. He smiled lovingly as he gave her hand a warm squeeze. “with fairy lights and snow” Pansy smiled feeling excitement build up within her as she considered what it would look like. 

His mother turned abruptly and handed him something. Neville sighed and smiled as he took the offered item looking genuinely pleased with the activity. Pansy looked over to see a shiny sweet wrapper. She remembered him saying that his mother liked to give him the pretty ones. 

Pansy smiled as she looked down at it, a shiny green wrapper. Alice twisted again, but this time Pansy was surprised to see that his mother was holding out a wrapper to her. She looked at Neville before looking back at her withered hand. She held out her palm as the older witch placed another wrapper there. 

“Thank you,” Pansy said as she looked at it. Neville’s face had gone white as he looked at her. “What?” She asked, “Is this not okay? I thought you said this happened?”

“It does,” Neville said quietly, a quirk coming to his lips. “to me, Mum never gave wrappers to Gran!” This news surprised her as she looked back down as the ruby wrapper in her hand. She smiled. 

“I take it I have her blessing then?” Pansy smiled, feeling a weight fall from her. She had almost expected that even in their addled state, they would find a way to tell the that she wasn’t accepted. She looked down at the red foiled wrapped. She knew exactly where she would be storing this trinket, right next to her other precious jewellery in her jewellery box. She smiled at Neville and let a tear escape before pushing it away with her palm. Neville laughed, and Pansy knew they were going to be alright.


End file.
